Ahead of the Windows 8 launch, Sony has just announced its line up for the United States, with the Sony Vaio Tap 20 and the Sony Vaio Duo 11 being the most striking Windows 8 computers from the company.
Sony VAIO Tap 20
Sony VAIO Duo 11
The Vaio Tap 20 ($879+) is particularly original as it is basically a 20″ all-in-one computer that can also run autonomously for a few hours, thanks to its integrated battery. The design is very nice and I would recommend taking a good look at it in a Sony Store if you have the opportunity. We’ve already covered the Vaio Tap 20 hardware during IFA, so the other interesting highlight of the Tap 20 is that Sony is including high-quality gesture-optimized software so that users can take advantage of Windows 8 and the tablet format from day 1. That includes ArtRage Studio, a great painting tool, and Fingertapps Organizer, a message board for the whole family.
The Vaio Duo 11 ($1099+) is a 11.6″ Ultrabook to tablet “slider”. When I played with it, I found it to be very light (2.84lbs) and in my view, this is a computer for business users. It has a full array of ports, including VGA and HDMI for projector connectivity. I would recommend thinking of it as a laptop first, which can turn into a tablet for reading, movie watching, etc.. Its compact design should make it a particularly good fit for those tight spaces in airplanes. The Vaio Duo 11 also comes with pre-loaded gesture friendly software like Active Clip, which is a quality photo-editing software and Note Anytime, a powerful notes app.
